Podcast

Can the U.S. Broker A Durable Agreement Between Russia and Ukraine? Analyzing the Trump-Putin Summit

Published on August 19, 2025

Presidential summits can be useful in opening serious negotiations or closing them with an agreement. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming summit in Alaska is the latest attempt by the United States to advance peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine—now three and a half years into the war. The outcome of the summit may foreshadow the direction of future negotiations and, ultimately, whether a durable solution is possible.  

What is the Trump administration’sstrategy for the summit? What can realistically be achieved in this dialogue between Trump and Putin, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy excluded? And how will Russia, Ukraine, and the United States proceed in its wake?  

Join Aaron David Miller in conversation with Andrew S. Weiss and Eric Ciaramella, two of Carnegie’s foremost Russia and Ukraine analysts, to unpack the summit’s outcomes, what comes next for the war, and other issues on the next Carnegie Connects.  

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.